Air-craft.



F, BRAUKETT.

AIR CRAFT. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 17, 1909. v

Patented Jan. 10, 1911.

2 BHBETB-SHEET 1.

P. BRAOKETT. AIE GRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 17, 1909 Patented Jan. 10, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J I ENTOR ii run s 'ra'rnis ra'rnn'r orriea.

FREDERICK BRACKETT, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBTA.

AIR- CRAFT.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that'I, FREDERICK BRAOKETT, a citizen, of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District'of Columbia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Air-Craft, of which the following is a specification;

My invention relates to that type of air craft commonly known as heavier than air machines, and that type of heavier than air machines commonly known as aeroplanes.

. In machines of the type designated great 1 the air craft of-my invention showing in difliculty is experienced on account of several p it is gusty to any small extent.

disturbing factors, the elimination of which has so far proven impracticable in heavier than air machines. .One of these is the difficulty of, making a safe and easy landing without damage to either the aviator or the air craft at all times, and particularly when the propelling power fails or has to be cut off during flight. Descent upon land frequently brings about disastrous results through the heavy impact occasioned by the too rapid ill-chosen or ill-timed landing or falling upon the ground, while similar land- 'ing or falling into water also brings about disastrous results, if not by hurt to the machine and aviator, by drowning of the aviator.'and by wetting the machine. Whether the landing takes. place on land or in water there is danger both for the aviator and to the'mac'hine. {Another disturbing factor in connection with the operation of these machines is their unsteadiness in even gentle breezes, it having proven so far impracticable. to fly in the existing machines when the wind exceeds a certain moderate velocity or when The objects of my invention are to obviate the above named difficulties. These objects I accomplish by making use of an old and well known principle. This principle is that by which a hollow cone-when thrown point i on into the air flies truly and lands easily,

being comparatively free from disturbancesof minor magnitude the atmosphere;

The air craft of my invention compr ses a frame carrying supporting surfaces made up of a plurality of hollow cones'arranged in certain order, and suitable propelling and guiding means mounted in connection therewith. These cones are arranged so that while they normally serve as supporting surfaces they may be moved at the will of the aviator or automatically to a position in which they are open end or base downward Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan; 16, 1911.

Application filed November 17, 1909. Serial No. 528,561.

as the machine descends, thus acting as damping devices or parachutes to ease the descent of the machine. The descent is thus g'made gradually and if the machine alights or falls on water air will be pocketed in the cones, and the air craft will be floated thereby. l

A particular embodiment of my invention,

is set forth in the paragraphs following which are to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which,-

Figure 1 is a general perspective View of of the cones. Fig; 3 is the front portion of Fig. 4: is v the middle section of the frame. a detail showing an enlarged view of one of the cones and its construction. Fig. 5 is a modified form of cone.

Referring to Fig. 1 of these drawings, 10

is the mainframe of the machine which is provided with a front extension '11 of substantially smaller dimensions. The frame is made of suitablelight material, and is connected together, guyed and braced by suitably placed cords or Wires 13. The frame 10 is built in three sections 14, 14:", and 15, two of which 14 and 15, are essentially similar, one of the sections 14; and 15 being shown in Fig. 2, and part of section 14 in Fig. 3. The section. 14 is narrow and projects in front of sections 1e and 15 to form extension 11. These sections may be built separately and afterward bound together whereby they may be easily transrow, and their axes being paralleland lying in the same plane. Midway between the top and bottom of the frame is a second group I of cones 18 and 19 arranged similarly to the first group of cones and in a plane parallel to the plane occupied by the first group. These cones are inade of light silk, canvas or other material found suitable stretched on aframe-work comprising a book a, form- 'ing elements of the cone.

ing the base of the cone, two diainetrical bracing'strips b, a strip forming the axis of the cone, and two bracing strips (Z form- The cones of each row are mounted transversely of a rectangular hinged frame 20, there being two of these frames, one on each side of the center of the craft for each row, the frames being hinged at 21 to the frame of the craft. The base of each cone is hinged at points to the rear or hinged sides of the frames 20, the hinged sides thus serving as pivotal bars for the individual cone in addition to being sockctcd in the main frame It) to serve as the. hinge element for the frame "J0. The points of the cones are socured to the front sides of the frames 20. These frames are normally held in the horizontal planes as shown by latches 24, all the latches being connected together by rods or wircs 25 and operable by a common hand lever 26, so that all the frames 20 may be released at the same time. The frames are biased to a vertical position by Weights 27' on the ends of cords 28 which pass over pulleys 2t) and are'attached to the frontends of the frames. The weights 27 tend to draw the frames to vertical positions at all times. On the top of the main frame 10 is a plane suppm'ting surface 31 which is slightly curved in the well known manner and occupies approximately a plane parallel to the planes occupied by the cones just described.

Three vertical rudders are provided, two, 32, on the rear of the craft. one on each side of the frame 10 outside of the rows of canes,- and one, 38, on the front extension of the machine at. the extreme forward end. one mounted vertically above the other. these rudders are connected together in a suitable manner, as by rods-535 and cords 36,

so that they may be operated synchronously. It will be observed that the rudders are placed in the most advantageous positions Where they can be freely acted upon by the air while the craft is moving. Horizontal rudders or elevatii'ig planes 37 are provided in the front extension 11. these being two in number, mounted in the central part'of theextension 1-1 in a horizontal plane. and

one behind the other. the horizontal plane.

in which they are mounted passing midway between the two vertical rudders 33 and the front rudder being limited in its n'iovenients by the front vertical rudder. Too great moveineiit of these elevating rudders is thus prevented. Operating rds?,8cenncct these rudders so that they, like the vertical rudders, may besynchronously operated. It will be observed that thesc rudders 37 are also in a most advantageous position being midway between the vertical rudders, so that there is n0 interference between them while either or both are acting.

A propelling motor is located at 39 and All of drives by shaft 39 the propeller 40 of the machine, both the motor and the propeller being located centrally.

i1 is the aviators platform on which he sits or stands and operates the control'levers which arelocated adjacent. to it. i

- Secured to the bottom of the frame 10 are landing skids 49. These skids are made in two parts pivoted at 43 and connected together by a spring 44: which biases them together. Braces 45 hinged to the frame and to the skids serve to hold the skids in position andat the same time permit relative movement between theparts of the skids and between the skids and the frame.

As thus embodied, the air craft of my invention is operated as follows: Normall all the cones are in the full line horizontal posi tion shown, in which position they' serve as supportingsurfaces in connection with the plane supporting surface 31/ They present relatively small resistance to the movement" of the machine owing to the fact that they are pointed; while when tlying with the wind the conesaetually aid flight when the velocity of the ship is relatively less than that of the wind, the-wind pocketing in the open ends of the cones and drivingthe craft forward at an increased rate of speed. In addition to acting as supporting surfaces the cones are a means of stcadying the air craft in its flight. the cones having a marked tendency, when once started in a certain direction, to continue traveling in that direction.

curved exterior surfaces slight eddies orgusts do not disturb the equilibriuniof the craft totho same extent as would be the case if plane surfaces were used instead. \Vhen it is desired'to descend with ease, because.

of disablement of some part of the machine,

.or because it is deemed most advisable for other reason to descend in a substantially vertical direction. the frames 20 carrying the cones are released by operating the-latch le- 'ver 26. Immediately the: cones are moved to a vertical position by the weights 28. In this position air is pocketed within them and they'actas damping devices or parachutes, which asc the descent of the craft and at the same time preserve its equilibriun i. Depending upon the rapidity of descent desired one or more frames )0 may be released, separate hand levers being simply provided for that. purpose. In case the craft lands on water the pocketed air within the cones i of t he rclativc arrangement of parts and dc- -Moreover, owing to the fact that they have 100 i sense? gs tail mountings and connection with each other, have secured a mostconvenient and efficient operation for the air craft.

That my invention maybe embodied other forms is quite apparent. I particu larly desire to have it understood that I do not limit myself to the use of perfect cones. In fact I prefer in some instances to use flattened or distorted cones, such as shown in Fig. 4, and the essence of my invention lies not particularly in the fact that I use perfeet cones, but in the fact that I use pointed air pocketing elements, the base or rear end of each element being open and the remaining bodyof the element being air tight so that pocketing may take place, and. so that air caught in the pocket will not leak out. Accordingly in the claims annexed hereto I desire to have it understood that wherever' the word cones is used, that word is intended to cover all air pocketing elements which will serve the same purpose. Likewise, I desire to cover all modifications of the general structure of the particular embodimenvdescribed which do not depart from the generic spiritof my invention.

\Vhat I claim is, '1. An air craft comprising a supporting surface made. up wholly ofla plurality'of conical pockets open at the 'ear end, means connecting them together, and means for propelling them through the air.'

2. An air craft comprising a frame, a supporting surface wholly comprising a plurality of cones independent of each other and of otherisurfaces carried by said frame, and means of propulsion connected with said cones.- I i 3. An air craft comprising a supporting surface made up wholly of a plurality of pointed air pockets permanently open in the rear, means connecting them together,

and means of propulsion connected with the said air pockets.

4. An air craft comprising a supporting surface made up wholly of a plurality of air pockets permanently open in the rear, the open ends of the pockets being toward the rear of th e 'craft, means connecting the-pockets together, and means of propulsion connerted with the pockets.-

5. An air craft comprising a frame, a supporting surface composedwholly of a row of parallel supper ing cones independent of each other and of other surfaces carried by said frame, and means of propulsion connected with said frame.

6. An air craft comprising a frame, a supporting surface composed wholly of a plurality of parallel rows of cones independent of each other and of other surfaces sup= ported by saidframe, and means of propnlsion.

7. An air craft comprising a frame a row of parallel cones supported by said frame, which cones are hinged at one end and normally lie with their axes in a horizontal plane, means for allowing the cones to shift their position, and means of propulsion. 1

8. An air craft comprising a main frame, a hinged rectangular sub-frame normally occupying a horizontal plane, a row of parallel cones pointing in the direction of movement of the craft supported by said sub-frame,

means nornially holding said sub-frame in a horizontalplane, and means for releasing said frame to shift the cones from their horizontal position.

9. An air craft comprising a main frame,

a rectangular sub-frame hinged at its rear side and normally occupying a horizontal plane, a row of parallel cones pointing in the direction of movement of the craft sup ported by said sub-frame, means normally holding said sub-frame inahorizontal plane, and. means for releasing said frame to shift the cones from their horizontal osition.

10. An air craft comprising a fi ame, said frame being provided on its rear side with a pivotal bar, a plurality of cones supported on said frame, each cone having one end supported from the said pivotal bar by a hinged conection, means normally holding.

the cones in a horizontal position, and means for releasing the cones and allowing them to change their position by turning on the pivotal bar.

11. An air craft comprising aframe, a row of parallel cones supported by said frame, said cones being hinged at the base.

end and pointing front-ward, means nor- 1 nially holding the cones in a horizontal position, and means which tends to draw said cones to a vertical position.

- 12. An air craft comprising a main frame, a row of parallel cones supported on said frame, said cones being hinged'at one end and pointing frontward, a latch normally holding said cones in a horizontal position, and means for releasing the latch whereby said cones may assume a vertical'position'.

13. An air craft comprising a main frame,

a row of parallel cones supportedon said frame, said cones being hinged at one end and pointing frontward, a,'- latch normally holding said cones in a horizontal position,

' means for releasing the latch whereby said cones may assume a vertical position anda weight which tends to draw said cones to a vertical position. 7

14. An aircraft comprising a supporting surface made up wholly of a plurality .of air pockets, a plane supporting surface, means connecting the said surfaces together, and means of propulsion.

15. An air craft comprising a' frame,-a

plurality of cones-carriedby said frame, the axes of said cones lying in the same horizontal plane, an additional plane supporting a hinged sub-frame mounted surface in a plane parallel to the lane of the axes of the cones, and means 0 propulsion.

16. An air craft comprising a frame, a plurality of cones carried by said frame, the axes of said cones lying in the same horizontal plane, an additional plane supporting surface parallel to and above the )lane of the axes of the cones, and means 0 propulsion.

17. An air craft. comprising a main frame,

thereon, a plurality of cones supported by said sub-frame and normally occupying a substantially horizontal position, and means whereby said cones may be shifted to occupy a position at an angle to the horizontal.

18. An air craft comprising a frame, a

' fixed supporting surface substantially in a horizonta plane, and a movable supporting surface of conical air pockets open at the base and normally occupying a horizontal plane, and means for shlftin said movable supporting surface to a position in which itacts as a damping surface to ease the descent of the machine in a vertical direction.

'In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in'presence of two subscribing ,wit

nesses. I

FREDERICK BRACKETT.

\' \Vitnesses ARTHUR L. BRYANT, A. V. CusnmAN. 

